Party leaders condemn ‘lack of consultation’ over Portsmouth and Gosport council partnership

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CONCERNS have been raised that plans for Portsmouth City Council to help run the Gosport local authority’s services have been worked up ‘behind closed doors’.

Portsmouth’s Lib Dem group is concerned all councillors have not been consulted over the decision to send senior management to Gosport part-time to help.

And Labour has questioned whether it shows that the city council has too many executive staff on the payroll.

Lib Dem leader Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: ‘We need more openness about this, and not have decisions taken behind closed doors. We didn’t know any of this was going on, until a meeting of the group leaders. Most of the councillors have had no involvement whatsoever.’

Cllr John Ferrett, Labour leader, said: ‘I have shared my concerns about whether Portsmouth has the capacity to allocate people to work over in Gosport, and other places. It begs the question, if we do have the capacity, have we been over-resourced?